Beauty and Confidence Go Hand in Hand
by Probably Hidden
Summary: You know the story. Bella moves to Forks. Everyone's human. Edward's a player. Common place and done a million times. But with a mysterious and odd twist thrown in, who can say this isn't original?


A/N: I don't own Twilight

I sighed. I hated moving to new places, hated change really. It was just too tiring for me, and I was certain I wouldn't fit in. I never fit in. Not in New York or Phoenix or LA or Mexico City or anywhere. Maybe the US just wasn't for me. But at least it had always been a city. Now I was moving to Forks.

It was better, I knew. It was much better for me, to stay in one place and be stable with Charlie, rather than move constantly with Renee and Phil. It would be easier. Eventually.

And yet as I stared as the greenest green I had ever seen, that was hard to believe. Cities weren't green. This would take some getting used to.

Perhaps I should explain.

My mother, Renee, had married my step-dad Phil about a year ago. He was a baseball player, and moved constantly looking for work. So that gave me a choice. Force my mother to stay with me and mope while he was away, or sell the house and move with them. I chose the latter.

But I wasn't good at adjusting, and I didn't like it, and it was hard for Phil and Renee to find schools for me. After a year of traveling, everyone was sick of this.

So I chose to move in with my dad, Charlie, in Forks, Washington. He was ecstatic about the decision, and even I was relieved. Sure it was a small town, but at least I would stay in one place. Not to mention it would be good for Renee and Phil to finally have some time alone together.

The only problem was that it was Forks. Forks was tiny, and rainy, and green. I didn't like that. I liked cities and sun and ... other colors.

I sighed again.

I had taken the plane, and had just gotten picked up by Charlie. Now we were in his police cruiser, and I was staring dismally out at the surroundings. We had long since exhausted all topics of conversation, and the silence was deafening. Oh well.

I switched my thoughts from the past to the future. Tomorrow would be my last first day at a new high school, I hoped. I was coming in close to the beginning of the school year this time at least. It was October, so I had missed only one month of school. That was good.

But I was still nervous.

Reaching into the bag I carried with me everywhere, I clutched the only thing that calmed me down. Feeling the cool smooth silver, I visibly relaxed. I was very careful to be sure that Charlie didn't see. I knew he wouldn't approve of it. He and Renee had big plans for my future, seeing how smart I was. They wanted me to be a doctor or a lawyer or anything that would make my life secure and rich and safe.

That wasn't what I wanted. I was after something big, I supposed, but something far from academics and medicine. Something that challenged me and excited me, something that made me smile and made me happy. They wouldn't understand, they wouldn't let me, so I kept it to myself.

"We're here." Charlie announced gruffly. I glanced out the window at the small house that never changed, smiling slightly at the comfortable sameness of it. Sometimes that made me uneasy, but now it was just another sign that life was stable.

I saw the truck that he had told me he got for me, and I loved it. I hadn't thought I would or could, but it was thoroughly me, and I liked that. I loved how big and steadfast it was, and I could see myself in it.

The rest of the evening passed in a blur, and the morning too. It was a blur of dread and sadness and just a hint of fear. Before I knew it, before I wanted it to happen, I was entering my first class with a slip of paper that was to be signed by all my teachers.

As I walked away from the teacher's desk, all eyes were on me. They didn't get many new kids here, so I must have been a topic of gossip. I groaned inwardly. Great, just great.

At least in the back it was harder for them to stare at me. Notice I said harder. Definitely not impossible, because somehow they were all managing it. All of them. Just my luck.

Sinking down in my seat, I prayed for the end of the day.

(O-O)

At least lunch came quickly, though I was dreading that too. People had approached me throughout the morning to talk to me, but all had backed off quickly. That left me with no one to sit with. Fun.

Was it my outfit? I was just wearing jeans and a blue sweater. I thought I looked good in this outfit.

Was it my attitude? I had been perfectly nice, and tried to be approachable. Evidently it hadn't worked.

Was it my hair?

That threw me for a moment. I reached up to touch my hair, the only thing I liked to take my time to make look nice. I had brushed and straightened it this morning, then French braided one strand back into my ponytail from just underneath my temple. Two thin strands were left hanging out to frame my face. I thought it looked cool, even nice. I really liked it.

Sighing, I decided to leave that alone for the moment, and grabbed my lunch. The lunches here were disgusting, even more so than expected. I poked the thing on my tray, half expecting it to get up and crawl away. Note to self, pack bag lunches from now on.

I spotted an empty table and sat down. Trying to avoid the stares coming at me from every direction, I stared that this blob of what looked like regurgitated zombie vomit and debated taking a bite.

"I wouldn't eat that if I were you." I jumped ten feet in the air when I heard a velvety voice coming from my right. Glancing up, I realized I had been wrong earlier. No way was that the greenest green, this had to be. Deep emerald green that smoldered somehow, surrounded by pale, flawless skin, above a perfect nose and lips that smirked at me. Above the eyes, messy bronze hair that looked impossibly soft spilled onto his forehead, looking like he had just got out of bed. I wondered for a second if he used gel or spray to make it do that. I did the only thing a teenage girl would do in the face of such a beauty. I froze for a moment, as my heart spluttered and jumped and twirled. I tried to fight the urge to drool. I was not that kind of girl. Regaining my composure, I blushed and looked down at my 'lunch'.

"I wasn't planning to." I said while prodding it with my fork again. The squelch it made was enough to put anyone off eating.

"You're Isabella Swan aren't you?"

"Bella." I always had to correct everyone about that. It was kind of annoying.

"I'm Edward Cullen."

I had heard that name before, somewhere. Oh! He was the guy at least one girl in every class was talking about. Blushing again, I found myself agreeing with some of them. He was possibly the best looking boy on the planet.

But that wasn't all I had heard. Of course not.

Girls cried over him. He used them and threw them away. That was going around too.

I examined him for a moment. He certainly fit the bill of a playboy, or at least a heartbreaker. But then again, one should never trust rumors.

"Nice to meet you." I extended my hand, and waited for him to shake it. For some reason that caught him off guard, like he'd been expecting a different reaction. Recovering, he grasped my hand, then brought it to his lips and kissed it gently.

My eyes narrowed and I roughly pulled my hand away. I knew his kind, and that trick had been pulled on me too many times for it to affect me, really affect me. Of course, the guy was an Adonis, so my heartbeat quickened and I blushed, but at least my mind stayed clear.

It did help me in one way though. That was sign number one that you were meeting the school's playboy. And trust me, every high school has one.

He looked surprised again for a moment, and I was quick to speak, not wanting that to fade while I was still here. "Well, since the food is deadly, I guess I'll just leave then." I shot him a grin before I dumped my food and left.

Which didn't turn out to be the best idea, as it was. Why? Well, because then a pixie attacked me.

"Hey! You must be the new girl, Bella! Oh, do you mind that I call you that? I heard you liked to be called that! Anyway, I'm Alice!" The pixie had jumped in front of me and was talking so fast that I could barely keep up. She was literally bouncing, her long hair jumping with her just a second behind. Unintentionally, I noticed that the ends were slightly frayed, if you looked close enough. And judging by the way the hair behaved near the roots, she must have been using too many products and it was building up. Don't get me wrong, she was still breathtakingly beautiful, probably the prettiest girl I had ever seen, and her clothes and makeup were perfect, but she wasn't taking care of her hair, and she had the wrong haircut. It still looked good, but it wasn't great.

"Alice, leave poor Bella here alone." Great, he was back.

"Aw, Edward, don't tell me that you're after her too? She just got here! And isn't Lauren enough for you?" Alice whined, as though they had already had this conversation. They probably had.

"I was merely trying to protect her sanity, Alice." They seemed distracted enough. I started to slip away from both. The girl, Alice, seemed nice enough, but I didn't trust Edward.

"Hey! Don't mind them, they're both insane. I'm Emmet by the way." I mentally groaned as another one caught me from sneaking away. This one was HUGE. Wow. Scary.

"Emmet, you leave the girl alone too." Edward looked pissed, and I could feel his gaze zeroing in on Emmet's hand on my shoulder.

"Don't worry Edward, I've got my Rosalie, you know that." He put his hands up in the air and joined the fray. Okay, take whatever chance you've got, slip away now.

I slid back carefully, and was about to turn and actually walk when I bumped into something. Turning around, I was proven wrong for the second time today. This was most definitely the most beautiful girl I had ever seen. Her long blond hair and blue eyes stood out, and her figure was one that belonged on a magazine cover. If there were more people in this school like these, my self esteem was going to plummet. Not to mention the guy next to her who looked like her twin. The girl shot me a glare and I cringed. I just wanted to get away from here!

"Jasper!" Alice poked her head out and smiled exuberantly at the boy, and he smiled back. The girl went and wrapped her arms around Emmet. Seeing how he smiled, I guessed that this must be Rosalie.

They were still distracted, so I walked away slowly. No one noticed I was gone, and as soon as I turned into another hallway I sighed in relief. Grabbing my books, I went to find my classroom, thinking my weirdest encounters were over.

I was wrong.

My bio classroom wasn't as empty as I was expecting it to be.

My heart lurched as I heard the sob that had found its way past her lips, before she noticed I was there. I quietly set my books down and made my way over to her. She was too distracted to notice me.

I glanced her over. The girl was a mess. Her hair was long and unkempt and straggly and oily. It didn't have the right cut and hadn't been taken care of properly at all. She wasn't ugly and she had clear skin, but the skin was horribly dry, and her eyes and nose were red from crying.

"Hey." I whispered gently, and she jumped.

"O-oh. I-I'm s-s-sorry! I th-tho-thought the r-room was e-empty." She stumbled, trying and failing to hide the fact that she'd been crying. I smiled gently at her.

"What happened?"

And with that one question, that obviously no one had asked her in a while, she blubbered it all out to me. Her name was Angela and she told me about how she was bullied constantly, how she couldn't do anything to stop it. How she had a crush on a guy who would never notice her, and then he joined the teasing. How she wanted nothing more than to confess to him. I sat with her and listened, letting her get it all out. When she had cried herself out, I spoke.

"Why do they tease you?" She looked at me, shocked, as if she couldn't believe I didn't know. So I was right, it must be her appearance. "I know someone who can help with all this."

"Really?"

"Yeah. Just come to this address at five tonight, and by tomorrow no one will tease you because of how you look. I promise." I smiled at her. And she smiled back, promising that she would come. I helped her clean herself up, and hid all the evidence of her little episode. When we got back from the bathroom, I let her slip in first. She didn't want me to get teased for being with her. I could have burst out laughing there, but I didn't want to hurt her feelings. By tomorrow, people would be begging to be friends with her.

I could promise her that.

(^o^)

(Normal POV)

Angela was a little scared by the obviously abandoned building. It used to be a popular beauty salon, but it closed down over a decade ago because the owner was murdered with their own hair cutting scissors. Or at least that was what everybody said had happened. And then there were the strange rumors from a few years ago, that real estate agents trying to sell the store came in and found the strangest things. Like hair freshly cut on the floor, and hairdryers left out. Suffice it to say that they left pretty quick and didn't come back. Maybe she should just go back…

Her mind flashed to the new girl, Bella, who had told her to come here. She had seemed sympathetic. She had offered to help. How long had it been since anybody had done that? That alone was a reason to trust her, right?

Steeling her resolve, Angela knocked on the dilapidated old door, only to have it creak open. The building was structurally sound, just a little out dated and hadn't been cared for. She was fully expecting to walk in and start sneezing because of all the dust she would find. Well imagine her surprise when she found the interior all cleaned up and shiny.

"Welcome."

Angela jumped at the voice. She turned to notice the boy standing next to one of the chairs, motioning for her to sit down. She took a tentative step towards him, unsure of what to do. He looked a little creepy, in his too loose clothes and his odd baseball cap.

The boy smiled, noticing her discomfort. "You want to become more confident, right?"

"Y-yes. I want that more than anything!"

"Want me to do some magic on you?"

"M-magic?"

"… Yeah. Magic."

(_)

(Bella's POV)

I was half dead when I walked into school. But it was worth it, to have helped Angela like that. I wanted to do that sort of thing more often. That's why I had spent all day after school yesterday getting that place set up and getting into my disguise. If Renee or Charlie found out what I was doing, spoiling their plan and all, they'd freak. But if some mysterious boy was doing it, well, then I was safe.

Anyway, I just wanted to get to class and sleep away the few precious minutes before first period started, but apparently there was some sort of commotion that was blocking the hall way. This was not helping my mood.

Peering above the crowd, I tried to see what was going on, but I wasn't quite tall enough. I was so concentrated on trying to see who I should blame for the delay, I was not expecting what came next.

"Some girl is confessing her love for Ben." A voice right next to my ear said. I nearly jumped ten feet in the air.

"Skittish, are we?" I turned to face mocking emerald eyes and scolded myself for letting him of all people surprise me.

"Only when I think a creeper is attacking."

"No creeper here."

"Oh, I don't know, I think I'm looking at one."

"You wound me deeply, Bella."

"I'm sure you've had worse, Cullen." And with that I went back to my task of trying to find out just who the girl confessing her love was.

"Now, is that really more interesting than me?"

"Completely and totally."

"What are you doing anyway?"

"Trying to find out who the girl is."

"I know who the girl is." The smugness in his voice was infuriating.

"Gonna be helpful and tell me? Or just stand there and enjoy the knowledge?"

"I think I'll take the second choice."

"Of course you will."

"You know, if you really want to know, you could try and give me something in exchange."

"Like what?"

"How about a kiss?"

"How about a knuckle sandwich?"

"Now, that's not very ladylike."

"It's Angela, isn't it?" I had finally caught sight of a head full of long, feminine hair, which had a style that I was particularly familiar with.

"How did you know?"

"Just a lucky guess." I turned and started to try and find an alternate route to my first period, not sparing a glance back for the couple I helped get together, the crowd of people spying on them, or the very bewildered Edward Cullen.


End file.
